Can You See It Shine? EP

Product Notes

Poor Little Saturday and How It Grew. PLS was the result of several uneventful startups in other people's 'bands' in the lovely Greater Youngstown Metropolitan Area. Something about living in a city where you can practically feel the death rattle under your feet seems to generate enough angst to start bands, but never enough motivation to finish them. While playing second banana in these talented, promising, and ultimately doomed bands, John Calcagni was slowly piecing together a demo tape called Q.E.D. (Get it? Get it? Clever, no?) which contained the rudimentary versions of what would become PLS's signature sound - huge guitars not too far from Kevin Shields' own heart, driving rhythms, and enough of a bitchy pop sensibility to make it (gasp!) radio-friendly. When the last of these bands finally disintegrated (and John almost with them) the time came for PLS to jump out of the closet, as it were. So came the Revision EP, a more fully realized and focused collection of three songs focusing on the ends of things: Last Rites, a scathing indictment of a bad relationship... Glory Be, an outsider-looking-in take on band debauchery, and you don't care that I don't care at all, John's revelation of how bitter he was that he didn't get to be prom queen. Or something. Anyway, people seemed to like it, and for a little while it became a favorite on MP3.com, generating a remix of Last Rites and a thousand or so plays - not bad for the infancy of a place like that. And then.... nothing. Various demos of a few songs saw the light of day, but it wasn't until the beginning of 2003 that another EP emerged. Chalk it up to distraction, insanity, and the rat race - which made for some damn good songs. So came the Can You See It Shine?ep, the first 'official' PLS release... The self-production, songwriting, and stars finally came together to create a blistering 17 minutes of post-everything rock music. Dwelling in the place that 90's shoegazers feared to tread, the sound is the other side of the liltingly loud, dreamy music of bands like Ride and My Bloody Valentine - it's music that will give you nasty windburn and mess up your hair. Some extra personnel came aboard to help fill out the sound - Brandon McWilliams, now of Gelfling, and Sara Vitullo - and how filling it was. This is just the beginning. PLS is in the studio right now recording the first full length in the repertoire, big ol' songs with emotionally charged lyrics tackling sexuality, love, hate, and the 'merican way - combining sound and fury into music you can rock out to. All the way out. Personnel: John Calcagni - vocals, guitar, bass, programming on Can You See It Shine?ep: Brandon McWilliams - Bass on '(someone that was) Never You' Sara Vitullo - Background vocals and violin on '(someone that was) Never You' December 2003.

Credits

Poor Little Saturday and How It Grew. PLS was the result of several uneventful startups in other people's 'bands' in the lovely Greater Youngstown Metropolitan Area. Something about living in a city where you can practically feel the death rattle under your feet seems to generate enough angst to start bands, but never enough motivation to finish them. While playing second banana in these talented, promising, and ultimately doomed bands, John Calcagni was slowly piecing together a demo tape called Q.E.D. (Get it? Get it? Clever, no?) which contained the rudimentary versions of what would become PLS's signature sound - huge guitars not too far from Kevin Shields' own heart, driving rhythms, and enough of a bitchy pop sensibility to make it (gasp!) radio-friendly. When the last of these bands finally disintegrated (and John almost with them) the time came for PLS to jump out of the closet, as it were. So came the Revision EP, a more fully realized and focused collection of three songs focusing on the ends of things: Last Rites, a scathing indictment of a bad relationship... Glory Be, an outsider-looking-in take on band debauchery, and you don't care that I don't care at all, John's revelation of how bitter he was that he didn't get to be prom queen. Or something. Anyway, people seemed to like it, and for a little while it became a favorite on MP3.com, generating a remix of Last Rites and a thousand or so plays - not bad for the infancy of a place like that. And then.... nothing. Various demos of a few songs saw the light of day, but it wasn't until the beginning of 2003 that another EP emerged. Chalk it up to distraction, insanity, and the rat race - which made for some damn good songs. So came the Can You See It Shine?ep, the first 'official' PLS release... The self-production, songwriting, and stars finally came together to create a blistering 17 minutes of post-everything rock music. Dwelling in the place that 90's shoegazers feared to tread, the sound is the other side of the liltingly loud, dreamy music of bands like Ride and My Bloody Valentine - it's music that will give you nasty windburn and mess up your hair. Some extra personnel came aboard to help fill out the sound - Brandon McWilliams, now of Gelfling, and Sara Vitullo - and how filling it was. This is just the beginning. PLS is in the studio right now recording the first full length in the repertoire, big ol' songs with emotionally charged lyrics tackling sexuality, love, hate, and the 'merican way - combining sound and fury into music you can rock out to. All the way out. Personnel: John Calcagni - vocals, guitar, bass, programming on Can You See It Shine?ep: Brandon McWilliams - Bass on '(someone that was) Never You' Sara Vitullo - Background vocals and violin on '(someone that was) Never You' December 2003.